11th February 2011

Its mild and damp at the moment.  I had white plastic over two sides of the run to stop snow and rain getting in, but it was almost spring like this week, so I rolled the plastic up and its really nice being able to see to the bottom right and corner of the garden.  The girls seem to enjoy their extended horizon too.
John announced the other evening that there was a rat living under one of the compost bins. So I got the almost empty galvanised dustbin out of the chicken shed and put their food in it at night, and hung the water from a rafter in the run.  He emptied the compost bins today, he was very brave because he hates rats and mice, and found a nest of babies in the bottom.  Poor little things.  They are in rat heaven now, the parents are hopefully long gone, and I have left the food out, though I think I should really go and get it put in the bin.
Ive been getting a lot of soft eggs lately, so now Ive put limestone flour on the food, and the shells have firmed up nicely. Its amazing how quickly it happens. 
I put two perches in for them to use, they like the lower one, but the taller one is a bit wobbly to stand on and they dont use it, so we are going to lower it and find a better log to go on the top.